Jobs, Conferences, and Driving

*Warning: This specific (not pacific) post is related to my personal life and is intended to update family and friends on what I have been doing. As a result, it is rather boring. So, if you are not interested I will not feel bad if you skip it. I am falling asleep writing it. 

The title says it all. Those are the three things on my mind as of late. The way the academic cycle is structured, jobs (for next fall) start to come out in late Sept. and continue to be posted through January (sometimes a job will even come open in Feb. or March). So, I am beginning to look at the prospects of new jobs for next year. I always knew I was at my job in Denver for 10 months and then would be looking for employment here or at another university. However, it seems so odd that I am already beginning the process when I have been in Denver for about a month. I also feel like I am cheating on my Denver job. I am not because my Denver job only has funding for 10 months....but still, I feel like I need to buy it flowers or something nice.

As of now there are about 13 openings around the nation that I would be interested in. All of the openings are assistant professor positions. That makes my chances of obtaining a job look pretty good since an assistant professor position is entry level (usually given to someone coming out of grad. school, or a postdoc, or someone in the first few years of their career), and my field is pretty small. There are 2 jobs in my home state of Iowa. No openings yet at the University my wife is employed by. However, it is still early and I am just thankful there are any jobs (last year there were about 5-8 jobs I could apply for all year). The other jobs are all east of the Mississippi. They range from Tennessee to Maine. All places I would be interested in living in.

On other fronts, this week I will be attending/presenting at the national conference for the Division of Early Childhood (DEC). DEC is the professional organization for Early Childhood Special Education around the nation. It really is a great conference every year. They do an outstanding job of making it diverse and interesting for all attendees. I remember going to big psych conferences as an undergrad and realizing how cut throat and scattered the field is. DEC's conferences are the complete opposite. ECSE is a pretty small group of people, so it is great to catchup with everyone in the field I haven't talked to in awhile. Another bonus, it is in K.C. this year (probably my favorite city in the U.S.). I have not been to K.C. since I started grad. school so I am extremely excited to go there. In addition, my former employer (Juniper Gardens) is mainly focused on ECSE so I get to see all my friends from there (very excited).

Finally, with all the talk of jobs and traveling, I would be remiss if I didn't mention I will be doing a whole lot of driving. I love driving as much as the next person. I grab myself a book on type and zone out. However, this week I will be putting down over 40 some hours of driving. Lucky for me I have someone to watch my pets while I am gone. I am hoping Yoda feels up to it. It also appears, if the academic thing doesn't work out, I have a bright future in "long haul trucking."


Stay classy,

Bill